No Help For The Poor

In the recent 2025 government shutdown, the government was reopened when a bipartisan group of senators reached an agreement which included a provision for full-year funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP funding had emerged as a major point of contention during the 40-day shutdown, which began on October 1, 2025. The Trump administration announced it would not use a contingency fund to pay November SNAP benefits, arguing that the shutdown was "manufactured by Democrats" and not a natural disaster that the fund was intended for, a position challenged in court. Not even 30 days after democrats in the Senate caved in and reopened the government, President Donald Trump's administration said Tuesday that it will move to withhold SNAP food aid from recipients in most Democratic-controlled states starting next week unless they provide information about those receiving the assistance. The Republican party that prides themselves on being conservative and god fearing are acting like tyrants and hypocritical to the oaths they proclaim to stand for. Where are the Christian evangelicals to tell them that Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of Yahuah persecute them. For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause, they have dug for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he has hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall. And my soul shall be joyful in Yahuah: it shall rejoice in his yeshu'ah. All my bones shall say, Yahuah, who is like unto you, which deliver the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoils him? Tehilliym (Psalms) 35:6-10 | את Cepher

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that the action is in the works because those states are refusing to provide data the department requested such as the names and immigration status of the aid recipients. She said the cooperation is necessary in order to root out fraud in the program. Democratic states have sued to block the requirement. Fraudulent transactions jumped 55% in the first quarter of FY2025 compared to the previous quarter.

• Trafficked benefits: The USDA has estimated that the amount of benefits trafficked through fraud is around $2 billion annually.

• Recovery rates: States are responsible for recovering overpayments, but recovery rates can be low. For example, the national recovery rate was less than 4% in FY2023. 

About 42 million lower-income Americans, or 1 in 8, rely on SNAP to help buy groceries. The average monthly benefit is about $190 per person, or a little over $6 a day.

The program is not normally in the political spotlight, but it has been this year. As part of Trump's big tax and policy bill earlier in the year, work requirements are expanding to include people who are ages 55 to 64, homeless people and others. Major evangelical bodies, such as the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), have issued strong statements calling for the protection of food assistance programs.

• Moral Responsibility: The NAE and other Christian leaders, often working with groups like the Circle of Protection, have emphasized that caring for the vulnerable is a "moral and ethical" imperative rooted in Scripture.

• Government Action Demanded: These organizations have urged Congress and the administration to use existing contingency funds to ensure benefits continue to flow, arguing that private charities alone cannot address the massive, nationwide need when millions are at risk of hunger.

• Bipartisan Plea: Advocacy efforts have consistently called for bipartisan cooperation to avoid using essential programs as political bargaining chips, which places the burden on the poor. 

If there be among you a poor man of one of your brethren within any of your gates in your land which Yahuah Elohayka gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother: But you shall open your hand wide unto him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wants. Beware that there be not a thought in your wicked heart, saying: The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him naught; and he cry unto El-Yahuah against you, and it be sin unto you. You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give unto him: because that for this thing Yahuah Elohayka shall bless you in all your works, and in all that you put your hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command you, saying: You shall open your hand wide unto your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land. Devariym (Deuteronomy) 15:7-11 | את Cepher

And amid the recent federal government shutdown, the administration planned not to fund the benefits for November. There was a back-and-forth in the courts about whether they could do so, but then the government reopened and benefits resumed before the final word. In the meantime, some states scrambled to fund benefits on their own and most increased or accelerated money for food banks. The recipient records fight predates the attention SNAP received during the shutdown. The administration initially asked states to provide data in February. Most Republican-controlled states have already done so. Most Democratic-run ones have gone to court to block the requirement, objecting to being forced to hand over individual records, including immigration status of SNAP participants. States that have submitted data

• As of an October 16, 2025 filing: Ohio, Texas, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming have complied.

• As of early December 2025: The USDA states that 28 states and Guam have complied. This includes North Carolina, which has a Democratic governor.

• States that are in the process or have already complied with the data transfer: Idaho, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. 

States in litigation and their deadline

• 22 states have sued to block the data request.

• The federal government sent a letter to these states in late November 2025, and all parties agreed to a deadline of December 8, 2025, for their response. 

States that have not responded

• Florida officials did not respond to questions about whether they had shared data as of mid-October 2025. 

• Democrats sought to pass separate, clean bills to fund SNAP and other critical programs, but these efforts were blocked by Republicans.

• Republicans maintained that the best way to ensure full SNAP benefits was for Democrats to agree to reopen the entire government with a short-term funding extension, without the Democrats' desired healthcare provisions attached.

• Several federal judges ruled that the Trump administration had acted unlawfully in withholding the emergency funds and ordered benefits to continue.

• Ultimately, the Senate compromise package, which included full-year funding for the Agriculture Department and thus SNAP through September 2026, passed the Senate and then the House, officially ending the government shutdown. 

The episode highlighted the vulnerability of the SNAP program during funding lapses, leading some states to scramble for their own interim funding and increasing pressure on federal lawmakers to find a permanent solution to prevent future disruptions. 

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loosen the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily: and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Yahuah shall be your rearward. Then shall you call, and Yahuah shall answer; you shall cry, and he shall say: Here I am. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noonday: Yesha'yahu (Isaiah) 58:6-10 | את Cepher. Follow The Gospel of YAHUAH Assembly on social media to stay updated on spiritual discourses and information